Category Archives: facing race

This is the first online taste of my hip hop based political commentary on New York Times headlines of the day. I chose the NYT, because, for better and worse, it is widely considered the paper of record for this country and beyond. In these journalistic poems, I hope to address the following questions: What can we learn from the news today? And, importantly, what do we FEEL from the day’s most headlined stories? Enjoy.

March 28, 2007

breaking news/
binding shoes/
ancient china to high heeled blues/
walter mosely and the context clues/
at facing race where i started this blog/
ima send this to yall/
breaking news/

breaking news/
breaking you/
down to split seconds/
a water champion named phelps/
beat his own world record/
the australia world swimming competition unfurls/
butterfly on a man vs. man stroke/
and sports aint no joke/
politically/
but there is a bit of me/
that wonders at the epitome/
of humanity fixated on a tenth of a second/
when its generations of war we as a whole manage to ignore/
the hardest questions/
the longest war/
me vs. me/
on the four, three, two/

breaking news/
one point seven nautical miles inside iraqi waters/
or 500 yards into iran/
bring on the slaughter/
its a set up/
a let down/
a bumper sticker on the street now/
says im already against the next war/
thats for damn sure/
and the diplomatic contest begins/
with power point maps/
they are making a case/
before the international judges/
we are asked to consider/
coordinates in water/
come up with an answer/
but when do we get to ask questions/
learn lessons from history/
gerrymandered water/
could you tell us the answer/
on the tips of your waves/
form an iranian dancer/
her mantra bends coral reefs softly/
let us go/
let us go.

breaking news/
“i can say that a public slaughtering took place, but there was no reaction from the authorities”/
said a resident of al wahda/
in iraq the police killed willingly/
reprisal is a word reporters define by default/
i dont think punishing a people/
for a suicide bomber makes sense/
whose fault/
when people end it all to no end/
no longer vietnam/
when the buddhist monks ablaze in the square/
compelled the world to a take minute to look war in the face/
i swear/
50 gun shots in new york/
50 killed in al wahda/
in public/
who does this/
and why?

breaking news/
armando ducat jr./
a kindergarden teacher with political connections/
takes his class hostage/
to teach manilla officials a lesson/
pay for their education like a goverment’s supposed/
to do im thinking local crews got similar blues/
when teachers take violent measures/
what does it mean for us on u.s. soil to pay dues?